Role of translationally controlled tumor protein in PRL-3-promoted metastasis of colon cancer cells

AIM: To study the role of translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) in the proliferation, migration and invasion of phosphatase of regenerating liver-3(PRL-3)-promoted colon cancer cells.METHODS: The vectors pAcGFP-C3 and pAcGFP-C3-PRL-3 were constructed and transfected into the colon cancer cell line LoVo.LoVo-PRL-3 cells stably expressing PRL-3 and LoVo-control cells were established. The expression levels of PRL-3 and TCTP in both cells were detected by Western blotting and real-time PCR. The specific siRNA sequence for TCTP mRNA and control-siRNA were synthesized and transfected into the LoVo-PRL-3 cells. TCTP expression at mRNA and protein levels in LoVo-PRL-3 was detected by Western blotting and real-time PCR 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after transfection. The proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of LoVo-control cells, LoVo-PRL-3 cells, TCTP-siRNA and control-siRNA cells were detected by CCK-8 assay and the method of Transwell cell culture chambers.RESULTS: The expression of TCTP at mRNA and protein levels in LoVo cells was significantly increased after PRL-3 transfection (P<0.05). TCTP mRNA was significantly inhibited 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after transfection of TCTP-siRNA (P<0.01). TCTP protein was also significantly inhibited 48 h and 72 h after transfection (P<0.01). Compared with LoVo-control cells, the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of LoVo-PRL-3 cells were significantly enhanced (P<0.05). However, lowering the up-regulated expression of TCTP in LoVo-PRL-3 cells inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: PRL-3 promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of colon cancer cells by up-regulating the TCTP expression. siRNA targeting TCTP may be an effective method for prevention and treatment of colon cancer cell metastasis.